There’s a remarkable bit of TV history on display inside the Culver City office of Jeopardy! executive producer Michael Davies: the actual game board used in the very first 1964 episode of the iconic series. It’s a great conversation starter, but for Davies, it doubles as a reminder of the show’s durability. “What’s so remarkable about Jeopardy! is that the format has not changed in 62 years, and were we to change the Monday-through-Friday original recipe, we would be insane,” he says. “The preservation of that is everything.”
Davies is respectful, even reverent, in honoring the DNA of Jeopardy!, noting that he began his Hollywood career working for series creator Merv Griffin in the 1990s. “I had personal conversations with Merv about Jeopardy!,” he says. “I wish I’d spoken to him more about it because I would love more of his guidance on a daily basis.” But Davies and his bosses at Sony Pictures Television are also adamant that in order to survive another six decades, the Ken Jennings–hosted show can’t remain frozen in amber — or be limited to a single half-hour that can be watched only on weeknights on local TV stations. It’s not that the mothership is faltering: During its just-concluded 42nd season, the syndicated version of Jeopardy! averaged 8.3 million nightly viewers, growing its audience 2 percent versus last season. Per same-day Nielsen ratings, it was the No. 1 entertainment series not just in syndication but in all of linear TV, including prime time, Sony says.
Yet as strong as Jeopardy! remains on broadcast, rapid changes to the television business have demonstrated how quickly viewing habits can shift and why studios and platforms need to constantly rethink how they connect with audiences. So even while protecting and preserving the integrity of the main show remains job one for Davies, since taking over as executive producer five years ago, he and Sony have been methodically working to transform the answers-and-questions show into a multi-title, multi-platform franchise, one able to reach audiences wherever they watch video — and even in places they don’t.
